Buried amid the horrific news from Australia about climate change and out-of-control wildfire was a positive story: the saving of rare trees.

CHICAGO, 5 February, 2020 − An Associated Press story titled Firefighters in Australia save unique prehistoric trees brought a scarce gleam of hope: “Firefighters winched from helicopters to reach the cluster of fewer than 200 Wollemi Pines in a remote gorge in the Blue Mountains a week before a massive wildfire bore down… the firefighters set up an irrigation system to keep the so-called dinosaur trees moist, and pumped water daily from the gorge as the blaze that had burned out of control for two months edged closer.”

This news had particular significance to me for a number of reasons. For one thing, the successful protection of this endangered species could hint at things to come − if we play our cards right.

For another, I know the Blue Mountains of New South Wales (though I have not been to that grove of trees − whose exact location has been kept a secret by botanists ever since it was first discovered in 1994.)

I spent four years down-under, first as an American researcher on a Fulbright grant to see what we in the States could learn from looking at the Australian experience, and then as a roving foreign correspondent for science-related US magazines such as International Wildlife, Scientific American, and the journal Science, among others.

My job was to travel over the land down-under, reporting on natural history, the environment, and science in the Great South Land for publications back home in the States − as well as magazines like Australian Geographic.

Easy to miss

Which was how I became acquainted with the Blue Mountains, a lesser-known area about 120 miles west of Sydney. They’re a surprisingly steep, thickly wooded, and easily overlooked mountain chain, much like an Aussie version of our Appalachians. And much like the Appalachians, their deep ravines held up westward exploration and expansion for a long time. But there the parallels end.

Walking in Australia’s Blue Mountains is an unworldly experience. There are no squirrels or chipmunks; instead, parrots occupy that ecological niche. My edition of the Field Guide to the Birds of Australia lists 23 different species of parrots alone.

Just a short list of the formal names of some of the individual species gives an idea of the colorful diversity you can see: Blue-winged, Orange-bellied, Golden-shouldered, Scarlet-chested, Red-rumped, and Turquoise parrots. Not to mention Elegant, Paradise, Superb, and King parrots.

And instead of smelling pine trees, your nose registers the scent of eucalypts. Look up at the stars at night, and there’s not a single familiar constellation; instead you see celestial objects like the Jewel Box Cluster − while hearing the mocking laugh of kookaburras.

“These trees are descendants of individuals that had survived since the era of the dinosaurs”

And some of the trees in parts of the Blueys − as they’re called − resemble nothing so much as short stumps with ferns popping out of their sides willy-nilly; everything looks so primeval you half-expect to see escapees from Jurassic Park poking their snouts out.

Indeed, in far-north Queensland I and my parents were to be stalked by a full-grown, adult male cassowary, defending his mate. We took shelter behind a large tropical tree, trying to keep the trunk between us and the approximately 200-pound, 6-foot-tall creature as it circled around.

This pervasive feeling of encounters with the primeval is appropriate. Australia is a very ancient land, which used to be part of what geologists call Gondwana − when most of the world’s landmasses were linked together in the distant past.

But while the other landforms went on to become continents such as South America and Africa, Australia remained a giant island continent, cut off from the rest of the planet. And species that died out elsewhere continued to thrive, and evolve, here.

(Just why species do so well on islands, and why evolution seems to speed up on them, is something that kept Charles Darwin busy. An entire field of island biogeography has sprung up to delve into its mysteries.)

Human rarities

Even now, some parts of Australia are so isolated that the wildlife has seldom seen humans. So far as researchers can tell, no Aborigines, Melanesians, Micronesians, Polynesians, or Caucasians ever settled on Australia’s Lord Howe Island until 1834; consequently, the wildlife never learned to be afraid of humans.

When I went there, you could stand at the foot of Lord Howe’s tallest mountain, call up to the providence petrels nesting as much as a hundred feet above, and watch the birds glide down to land at your feet. If you’re really good, you may be able to touch them, or at least have one land on your outstretched arm.

Due to these vagaries of isolation, ancient and unique species seem to abound in Australia − though they can be easily overlooked. Drive along the highway outside Shark Bay in the state of Western Australia, and you’ll spot weird dark, mushroom-shaped, rock-like structures in the shallows of the hyper-salty water; they’re actually living mats of blue-green algae known as stromatolites − Greek for “layered rock.”

Stromatolites are one of the oldest forms of life that we know of, essentially unchanged since their ancestors flourished 3.5 billion years ago. They were previously known to us only from fossils, until first discovered in this region in the 1980s.

So it’s not entirely surprising that Wollemi Pines should survive in the wild, undetected, a relatively short drive from Sydney for so many years; after all, these trees are descendants of individuals that had survived since the era of the dinosaurs − though they now exist in the wild in only one place in the world, with fewer than 100 adult specimens known.

Survivors for sale

What was surprising was that these wild specimens were saved from the wildfires, in a complex operation that involved firefighters being lowered from helicopters into the narrow steep-sided ridges where the trees dwell, along with planes strategically bombing the advancing firefront with fire retardant.

And well in advance of events these past months, authorities had covered their bets by doing all they could to increase the species’ chance of survival. Since 2006, a propagation program has made these trees available to botanical gardens so their numbers could be increased; I’ve subsequently run across Aussies who have grown the plants from seeds in their living rooms. (In Australia, seedlings can even be ordered online, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney offer information on Wollemi care, conservation, and research.)

More than that, when it looked like the wildfires were in imminent danger of destroying the only existing stand of these trees in the wild, leaders had the foresight to rely on the recommendations of scientists, firefighters, and other experts as to how to proceed. They then worked out a plan and put it into action − actively dealing with the problem rather than denying it existed.

In short, in the time since the Wollemi Pines were discovered, government agencies, nonprofit organisations, private enterprise and volunteer efforts successfully worked together over decades to protect the trees from extinction.

Which makes one wonder, once again, what we in the States could learn from observing the Australian experience. − Climate News Network

Buried amid the horrific news from Australia about climate change and out-of-control wildfire was a positive story: the saving of rare trees.

CHICAGO, 5 February, 2020 − An Associated Press story titled Firefighters in Australia save unique prehistoric trees brought a scarce gleam of hope: “Firefighters winched from helicopters to reach the cluster of fewer than 200 Wollemi Pines in a remote gorge in the Blue Mountains a week before a massive wildfire bore down… the firefighters set up an irrigation system to keep the so-called dinosaur trees moist, and pumped water daily from the gorge as the blaze that had burned out of control for two months edged closer.”

This news had particular significance to me for a number of reasons. For one thing, the successful protection of this endangered species could hint at things to come − if we play our cards right.

For another, I know the Blue Mountains of New South Wales (though I have not been to that grove of trees − whose exact location has been kept a secret by botanists ever since it was first discovered in 1994.)

I spent four years down-under, first as an American researcher on a Fulbright grant to see what we in the States could learn from looking at the Australian experience, and then as a roving foreign correspondent for science-related US magazines such as International Wildlife, Scientific American, and the journal Science, among others.

My job was to travel over the land down-under, reporting on natural history, the environment, and science in the Great South Land for publications back home in the States − as well as magazines like Australian Geographic.

Easy to miss

Which was how I became acquainted with the Blue Mountains, a lesser-known area about 120 miles west of Sydney. They’re a surprisingly steep, thickly wooded, and easily overlooked mountain chain, much like an Aussie version of our Appalachians. And much like the Appalachians, their deep ravines held up westward exploration and expansion for a long time. But there the parallels end.

Walking in Australia’s Blue Mountains is an unworldly experience. There are no squirrels or chipmunks; instead, parrots occupy that ecological niche. My edition of the Field Guide to the Birds of Australia lists 23 different species of parrots alone.

Just a short list of the formal names of some of the individual species gives an idea of the colorful diversity you can see: Blue-winged, Orange-bellied, Golden-shouldered, Scarlet-chested, Red-rumped, and Turquoise parrots. Not to mention Elegant, Paradise, Superb, and King parrots.

And instead of smelling pine trees, your nose registers the scent of eucalypts. Look up at the stars at night, and there’s not a single familiar constellation; instead you see celestial objects like the Jewel Box Cluster − while hearing the mocking laugh of kookaburras.

“These trees are descendants of individuals that had survived since the era of the dinosaurs”

And some of the trees in parts of the Blueys − as they’re called − resemble nothing so much as short stumps with ferns popping out of their sides willy-nilly; everything looks so primeval you half-expect to see escapees from Jurassic Park poking their snouts out.

Indeed, in far-north Queensland I and my parents were to be stalked by a full-grown, adult male cassowary, defending his mate. We took shelter behind a large tropical tree, trying to keep the trunk between us and the approximately 200-pound, 6-foot-tall creature as it circled around.

This pervasive feeling of encounters with the primeval is appropriate. Australia is a very ancient land, which used to be part of what geologists call Gondwana − when most of the world’s landmasses were linked together in the distant past.

But while the other landforms went on to become continents such as South America and Africa, Australia remained a giant island continent, cut off from the rest of the planet. And species that died out elsewhere continued to thrive, and evolve, here.

(Just why species do so well on islands, and why evolution seems to speed up on them, is something that kept Charles Darwin busy. An entire field of island biogeography has sprung up to delve into its mysteries.)

Human rarities

Even now, some parts of Australia are so isolated that the wildlife has seldom seen humans. So far as researchers can tell, no Aborigines, Melanesians, Micronesians, Polynesians, or Caucasians ever settled on Australia’s Lord Howe Island until 1834; consequently, the wildlife never learned to be afraid of humans.

When I went there, you could stand at the foot of Lord Howe’s tallest mountain, call up to the providence petrels nesting as much as a hundred feet above, and watch the birds glide down to land at your feet. If you’re really good, you may be able to touch them, or at least have one land on your outstretched arm.

Due to these vagaries of isolation, ancient and unique species seem to abound in Australia − though they can be easily overlooked. Drive along the highway outside Shark Bay in the state of Western Australia, and you’ll spot weird dark, mushroom-shaped, rock-like structures in the shallows of the hyper-salty water; they’re actually living mats of blue-green algae known as stromatolites − Greek for “layered rock.”

Stromatolites are one of the oldest forms of life that we know of, essentially unchanged since their ancestors flourished 3.5 billion years ago. They were previously known to us only from fossils, until first discovered in this region in the 1980s.

So it’s not entirely surprising that Wollemi Pines should survive in the wild, undetected, a relatively short drive from Sydney for so many years; after all, these trees are descendants of individuals that had survived since the era of the dinosaurs − though they now exist in the wild in only one place in the world, with fewer than 100 adult specimens known.

Survivors for sale

What was surprising was that these wild specimens were saved from the wildfires, in a complex operation that involved firefighters being lowered from helicopters into the narrow steep-sided ridges where the trees dwell, along with planes strategically bombing the advancing firefront with fire retardant.

And well in advance of events these past months, authorities had covered their bets by doing all they could to increase the species’ chance of survival. Since 2006, a propagation program has made these trees available to botanical gardens so their numbers could be increased; I’ve subsequently run across Aussies who have grown the plants from seeds in their living rooms. (In Australia, seedlings can even be ordered online, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney offer information on Wollemi care, conservation, and research.)

More than that, when it looked like the wildfires were in imminent danger of destroying the only existing stand of these trees in the wild, leaders had the foresight to rely on the recommendations of scientists, firefighters, and other experts as to how to proceed. They then worked out a plan and put it into action − actively dealing with the problem rather than denying it existed.

In short, in the time since the Wollemi Pines were discovered, government agencies, nonprofit organisations, private enterprise and volunteer efforts successfully worked together over decades to protect the trees from extinction.

Which makes one wonder, once again, what we in the States could learn from observing the Australian experience. − Climate News Network

September 6th, 2013, by Kieran Cooke

EMBARGOED until 2301 GMT on Friday 6 SeptemberAs Australians vote in their federal elections, there is a ‘gaping hole’ in the policies of the two major parties on dealing with the costs of climate changeLONDON, 7 September − In the long and bruising campaign that has led up to the federal elections in Australia, the governing Australian Labor Party and the conservative Coalition challengers have both chosen to sidetrack the crucial issue of reducing CO2 emissions. Concerns about changes in climate are widespread in Australia. Swathes of the country have been battered in recent years by costly cyclones and floods, and there has been long-lasting drought in many areas and a series of devastating bushfires. Many lives have been lost, and the economic damage caused has been considerable. Earlier this month, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology declared the August 2012 to August 2013 period the hottest 12 months on record. Yet in this election campaign, both parties have tended to shy away from promising any meaningful action aimed at tackling climate change issues − in particular, reducing the country’s CO2 emissions, which, on a per capita basis, are among the highest in the world. Oil and gas production and mining are major industries in Australia. Booming mining exports, particularly of coal to energy-hungry China and India, have fuelled 10 years of sustained economic growth. Latest figures show that Australia, described by some as “Asia’s quarry”, has CO² emissions of 18.4 tonnes per capita − a figure higher than in the US, and almost three times the figure in the UK.

‘Carbon tax’

In 2011, the Labor government introduced a Clean Energy Bill that required polluters such as energy companies to pay for the greenhouse gas emissions they create. The opposition, led by the Liberal Party, mounted a wholesale campaign against the measure, which they labelled a “carbon tax” and claimed would drive up energy bills and threaten jobs. Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott has in the past branded climate change science as highly contentious. Although he has moderated his views somewhat in the face of public concerns on the issue, he has said that his first priority on achieving office would be the scrapping of the “climate tax”. Abbott’s Coalition has also promised a major road building programme and the repeal of a tax on mining company profits. In place of the Clean Energy Bill, Abbott proposes what is described as a Direct Action Plan, with grants available to pay for voluntary CO2 reduction schemes. The aim is to reduce carbon emissions by a modest 5% on 2000 levels by 2020. Critics say the plan is short on detail, and that funds being made available are totally inadequate. They calculate that Australia’s CO2 emissions will rise by 9% over the next six years. Meanwhile, the Labor Party and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd – who once described climate change as “the greatest moral, economic and social challenge of our time” – seem to have backtracked on earlier promises to tackle CO2 emissions, proposing to cut the penalties polluters have to pay, from more than A$25 (US$23) per tonne to only A$6 (US$5.5). “This election’s climate debate has been politics from another planet, with overwhelming focus on the costs of action rather than its opportunities, and no focus on the costs of climate inaction,” says John Connor, CEO of The Climate Institute, an independent Australian research organisation. Connor warns: “There is still a gaping hole from both major parties when it comes to preparing Australians for the unavoidable costs of climate change. The costs of food, insurance premiums, emergency services and other essentials will continue to rise with the growing intensity of bushfires, floods, and other climate impacts if Australia doesn’t do more to protect its national climate interest.” − Climate News Network

EMBARGOED until 2301 GMT on Friday 6 SeptemberAs Australians vote in their federal elections, there is a ‘gaping hole’ in the policies of the two major parties on dealing with the costs of climate changeLONDON, 7 September − In the long and bruising campaign that has led up to the federal elections in Australia, the governing Australian Labor Party and the conservative Coalition challengers have both chosen to sidetrack the crucial issue of reducing CO2 emissions. Concerns about changes in climate are widespread in Australia. Swathes of the country have been battered in recent years by costly cyclones and floods, and there has been long-lasting drought in many areas and a series of devastating bushfires. Many lives have been lost, and the economic damage caused has been considerable. Earlier this month, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology declared the August 2012 to August 2013 period the hottest 12 months on record. Yet in this election campaign, both parties have tended to shy away from promising any meaningful action aimed at tackling climate change issues − in particular, reducing the country’s CO2 emissions, which, on a per capita basis, are among the highest in the world. Oil and gas production and mining are major industries in Australia. Booming mining exports, particularly of coal to energy-hungry China and India, have fuelled 10 years of sustained economic growth. Latest figures show that Australia, described by some as “Asia’s quarry”, has CO² emissions of 18.4 tonnes per capita − a figure higher than in the US, and almost three times the figure in the UK.

‘Carbon tax’

In 2011, the Labor government introduced a Clean Energy Bill that required polluters such as energy companies to pay for the greenhouse gas emissions they create. The opposition, led by the Liberal Party, mounted a wholesale campaign against the measure, which they labelled a “carbon tax” and claimed would drive up energy bills and threaten jobs. Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott has in the past branded climate change science as highly contentious. Although he has moderated his views somewhat in the face of public concerns on the issue, he has said that his first priority on achieving office would be the scrapping of the “climate tax”. Abbott’s Coalition has also promised a major road building programme and the repeal of a tax on mining company profits. In place of the Clean Energy Bill, Abbott proposes what is described as a Direct Action Plan, with grants available to pay for voluntary CO2 reduction schemes. The aim is to reduce carbon emissions by a modest 5% on 2000 levels by 2020. Critics say the plan is short on detail, and that funds being made available are totally inadequate. They calculate that Australia’s CO2 emissions will rise by 9% over the next six years. Meanwhile, the Labor Party and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd – who once described climate change as “the greatest moral, economic and social challenge of our time” – seem to have backtracked on earlier promises to tackle CO2 emissions, proposing to cut the penalties polluters have to pay, from more than A$25 (US$23) per tonne to only A$6 (US$5.5). “This election’s climate debate has been politics from another planet, with overwhelming focus on the costs of action rather than its opportunities, and no focus on the costs of climate inaction,” says John Connor, CEO of The Climate Institute, an independent Australian research organisation. Connor warns: “There is still a gaping hole from both major parties when it comes to preparing Australians for the unavoidable costs of climate change. The costs of food, insurance premiums, emergency services and other essentials will continue to rise with the growing intensity of bushfires, floods, and other climate impacts if Australia doesn’t do more to protect its national climate interest.” − Climate News Network

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